1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip card reader with a housing, a guideway, provided in the longitudinal direction of the housing, for holding a chip card, and with a contact carrier, located on the housing, whose contacts are capable of making contact with corresponding contacts of the chip card when the chip card is in the read position in the housing, and with a locking element which latches behind the chip card in the read position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a chip card reader is known from EP-A-468 179. The function of chip card readers is to make contact with the contacts of the electronic chip disposed on the appertaining card when the card is in a defined end position (read position) in the reader, in order thereby to enable the information on the chip to be "read", but also, if necessary, to enable information to be entered into the chip card.
For the purpose of fixing the chip card in the read position, the known chip card reader has a lever system which, upon the introduction of the card, is impinged upon by a driver and displaced in such a way that a locking hoop of the lever system latches behind the card in the read position by means of a hook.
Chip card readers of the said type should be constructed as small as possible and should not be susceptible to damage or interference. The known lever system can only inadequately meet these requirements, since it necessarily requires a considerable amount of space and is relatively susceptible to the application of mechanical force.
In this connection, the improper use and destruction of such chip card readers constitutes a considerable problem.